


Louis, Actually

by jongleur



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Romance, Romantic Comedy, Valentine's Day Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-31
Updated: 2015-01-31
Packaged: 2018-03-09 21:53:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,022
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3265676
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jongleur/pseuds/jongleur
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Louis is in love with three things: love, Harry Styles, and romcoms.</p><p>It really isn’t his fault that the week leading up to Valentine’s Day he’s a mess binging on romantic comedies. It also isn’t his fault he’s waiting for Harry to put a ring on it Meg Ryan style. He's gonna have to take matter into his own hands.</p><p>This is isn’t the story of how Harry met Louis, it is of how Louis, actually, is an idiot.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Louis, Actually

**Author's Note:**

  * For [b0yfriendsinl0ve](https://archiveofourown.org/users/b0yfriendsinl0ve/gifts).



> First of all, Happy Valentine's day! boyfriendsinl0ve I hope you like this fic :) You asked for a valentine's proposal, I gave you this...
> 
> Second of all, I want to thank alex (tumblr: loutwix) for being the loveliest of betas. Seriously, Alex helped me so much not only plot/spelling wise, but was such an amazing cheerleader and put up with my horrible schedule. I love you Alex!
> 
> Hope you guys enjoy this fluffy, very ridiculous valentine's fic.

**❤**

**_seven days until valentine’s day_ **

 

_“And the rule is this: If a guy doesn't call you, he doesn't wanna call you.”_

_“Always?”_

_“Yeah, always.”_

“Don’t worry Gigi, it took me years to realize it too.” Louis grumbles from his seat on the couch as he munches on popcorn, mesmerized at the movie that’s playing in front of him.

_“Look, I know what blowing off a woman looks like, okay? I do it early, I do it often. So trust me when I say if a guy is treating you like he doesn't give a shit...he genuinely doesn't give a shit.”_

“Alex, you’re an asshole. You wouldn’t know love even if it  hit you in the middle of the nose!” he exclaims. But seriously, why doesn’t this guy realize the love of his life is in front of him?

There’s a sound of clinking metal coming from the kitchen and that’s when Louis finally turns around and shouts, “Zayn, what are you doing? You’re not attempting to cook, are you?”

A soft, struggling mumble is all he gets as an answer and Louis, fearing for his life and all that, decides to check in on his best friend.

“Zayn what the fuck are you doing?” Louis asks again, this time looking reproachfully at his friend.

Zayn is on the floor, pots and pans surrounding him in shame.

“I—I was gonna _cook._  What do you think, idiot?” he disdainfully sniffs, brushing a hand through his stark black quiff, but stays on the floor. “I need to eat, you know?”

Louis rolls his eyes, but helps his friend off the floor, “Is it so hard to make a bloody cereal?”

Zayn dusts himself off and adds, “We can’t just get used to Harry cooking for us all the time. This is what happens when he’s not here, we’re a mess.”

Louis rests his hip on the fridge, crossing his arms, “We’ll just order take out, then.”

“That’s not the point, Lou.” Zayn whines, but the corners of a smile are rapidly growing on his handsome face.

“The point shouldn’t end up all in the floor.” Louis starts picking up the pots they never really use and adds, “C’mon, mate, let’s just order chinese tonight and I swear, _swear_ on me mum to start watching YouTube cooking tutorials next week.”

“Somehow, I don’t really think those will help,” he sighs. “All I want in life is to not starve to death.”

After they finish cleaning up Zayn’s mess and ordering their dinner, Louis convinces his flat mate to continue watching the movie with him. As soon as Zayn sees what’s on their TV, however, he refuses, “No way, Tomlinson, I am not watching one of your stupid movies _again_.”

Louis squeaks indignantly, dragging a reluctant Zayn beside where he’s sitting, “They’re not stupid! Besides, you haven’t seen this one!”

“Yeah, I have. It's the one where they get together at the end.” Zayn groans.

Louis deadpans, “You could’ve said that for any of my movies.”

“Exactly.” Zayn exclaims, “Why can’t you for once, watch Iron Man or something.”

And then Louis pouts. Louis has this theory that 99.9% of the world’s population is actually _immune_ to his pouts. Mainly, because he has always been the mischievous kid no one actually trusted. Either way, the small percentage of people who _do_ fall victim to Louis’ traps consist of Harry Styles, Liam Payne, Niall Horan, and yes, one Zayn Malik. Maybe even that girl from his Lit class, Eleanor, but that’s probably because she has an awful crush on him.

Zayn groans in defeat, “Alright, alright. But we have to watch Iron Man 3 afterwards.”

“Hm, Spiderman?”

Zayn considers this for a moment before nodding, “Alright. Don’t let anyone ever say Gwen and Peter aren’t the greatest love story of our time.”

“I digress.” Louis smiles before laying his head on top of Zayn’s lap, eyes already on the TV.

“ _Don’t say_ Mary Jane, Louis, or I’ll kick you out of the flat.”

“You know, _me and Harry_.”

Zayn doesn’t fight him on that.

They keep watching the movies in silence, even if Louis _has_ seen it more than enough times.

Louis has been a fan of romantic comedies ever since he can remember being able to appreciate them. He just thinks life should be that way: light and funny, with very little sadness, and a happy ending. And hot guys.

He watches as Jennifer Aniston and Ben Affleck fight on screen, making him pout, this is a sad scene.

“ _I just need you to stop being nice to me...unless you're gonna marry me after_. _”_

“ _We've been together for over seven years. You know me, you know who I am. You either wanna marry me or you don't.”_

“ _Or there's the possibility...that I mean it when I say I don't believe in marriage._..”

Zayn turns to him, “You know, I feel like she’s being unreasonable here. Like, he really loves her, right? She shouldn’t put him on the spot like that.”

Louis scowls, ignoring the movie for a moment, “ _No_. If you have been dating someone for eight years, you _should_ expect some marriage and kids, if that’s what you want.”

“But she isn’t taking into consideration what he wants.” Zayn retorts hotly, pointing at a crying Jennifer Aniston.

“He isn’t taking _her_ into consideration. He should’ve known that’s what she wanted in the first place.”

Zayn shakes his head, “Maybe it’s just too early for him to start thinking about that, maybe he just wants to live his young life, Louis.”

Louis stares at him for a moment before he smiles slightly. “Ok, something tells me we aren’t talking about Ben Affleck anymore. What happened?”

Zayn turns to watch the TV again, but sighs. “It’s Pezza. She mentioned something about moving in together after graduation, and I agreed with her, but then she started asking me if I wanted to get married before or after we moved in. I freaked out, you know, and it’s been in my head all day.”

Louis laughs, “Aw, Zaynie, I can just imagine you choking on air while Perrie babbles on about her wedding dress.”

“It’s not funny.” Zayn groans and rubs his face.

Louis purses his lips and pats his friend consolingly, “You don’t…want to get married to Pezza?”

Zayn shakes his head, “No, no, _I do_ , but in the future, I feel like…after being married, life gets, I don’t know...calmer, I guess. I don’t want that.”

Louis frowns, “Not necessarily. There are people who get married and travel the world and have lots of fun, Zayn.”

“Yeah, and then what? Have children? God, no. Besides, we’ve been together for a year and a half. Getting hitched is for people who’ve been together _at least_ four years.”

As soon as Louis hears that, he bites his lips, pondering.

Zayn notices this, “Or not,” he adds quickly, “It’s not a rule, just thinking.”

There’s a knock on their door, probably the food they ordered and Zayn gets up and mutters a soft ‘I’ll get it’ before leaving Louis alone with his thoughts.

Four years? He’s been dating Harry for five years.

It’s not like the thought of marriage hasn’t crossed his mind, not even close. He and Harry have talked about it a million times; they even have their future children’s names memorized. But it had always been something for the future, never a concrete date. Now, he realizes, _they are_ in the future. In three mere months, both of them will be graduating, getting proper adult jobs, the whole package. And Louis wonders what’s going to happen to them. He doesn’t want to be a Jennifer Aniston, he doesn’t want Harry to feel like Zayn. But he loves Harry and he wants to marry him.

Suddenly, all the hundreds of romcoms he’s watched since he was a teen flash before his eyes. A plan is formed.

❤

 

**_five days until valentine’s day_ **

 

“C’mon, Lou, we’re gonna be late!” Harry calls from the living room.

Louis runs a hand through his quiff in a last attempt at making it stylishly ruffled. He fails.

“Whatever.” Louis mutters under his breath before grabbing his coat and making his way to the living room. One of these days he’s going to accept the fact that not everyone can have Zayn Malik hair except for Zayn Malik.

As soon as Louis comes out, Harry stands up and stretches his hand out to Louis, not unlike a toddler, with a dimpled smile, “Looking good, babe.”

Louis takes the offered hand and gives him a smirk, “On the other hand, _you_ could’ve dressed up a bit better, love.”

“ _Hey_ ,” he drawls out, but he knows Louis is teasing. _Of course_ , Louis is teasing; to Louis, Harry always looks good, especially if he’s wearing trousers as tight as he is now and a low v neck that shows a peak of his chest tattoos.

The weather is fairly cold, Louis notices, but doesn’t really mind it when Harry snuggles closer to him as they walk their way to the tube. Harry is babbling on and on about one of his professors and how he’s being treated utterly unfairly, and Louis wants to pay attention, he really does, but he’s looking at Harry. All bright eyes, deep voice, and ridiculous hand movements and he thinks that, yes, of course he wants to spend the rest of his life with this dork.

“ _So_ , Haz, are you sure you want to go to the movies?” Louis asks when Harry has finished talking, “Don’t you wanna go somewhere else? I heard the London Eye has a pretty view in February.” If Louis has learned anything from Meg Ryan movies, it's that tall places with a nice view of the city are _always_ romantic.

Harry doesn’t seem to know this. “Why would we want to go to the London Eye? Besides, I thought you wanted to see this movie since the trailer came out?”

Louis nods his head quickly, trying not to make Harry suspicious, “No, yeah, I do, just making sure.”

“I know you’re _dying_ to see Natalie Portman,” Harry continues with a fond roll of the eyes, “But I, for once, can’t wait to see Chris Hemsworth on a giant screen.”

Louis tisks, “Don’t try to make me jealous, Hazza. It doesn’t work that way. I want to see him shirtless, too.”

Harry laughs loudly, scaring some pigeons nearby.

“You’re scaring the birds with your weird laugh, Haz.” Louis exclaims which just makes Harry laugh louder.

They make their way to the tube, but it’s packed and they have to travel standing up, apart from each other. Harry’s on the right while Louis stays on the left. There's a lot of people between them, but they’re still facing each other. Louis starts crossing his eyes and pokes his tongue out which makes Harry snort and the lady next to him glares at his dumb boyfriend.

Harry then makes a duckface and wiggles his eyebrows in what’s supposed to be a seductive manner, but only makes Louis giggle loudly, making the people next to him turn around. Louis shrugs, and then they start making faces at each other, seeing who can embarrass the other more.

When they finally get off, they’re both red faced and giggling, and Louis can’t remember when they quit university to become professional toddlers.

“You’re insane, Harry Styles.” He tells him, locking their fingers together and leads him to the movie theatre.

They decide that Louis will go and buy the tickets while Harry goes to get their popcorn and candy. But when Louis gets back, tickets in hand, Harry, instead,of buying their goddamn food, is kneeling down and talking to a little girl. Louis walks up to him, pursing his lips, trying to hide his own smile.

“Harry?” he calls him.

Harry looks up and with a sheepish smile says, “Sorry, got distracted.”

“Yeah, I can see that.” This time, he fails, and grins brightly at Harry, crinkling his eyes, “But we have to go, the movie is starting.”

Harry nods and turns back to the girl, who is maybe four or five years old, “I have to go, Claire. Nice meeting you.”

The little girl, Claire, smiles sweetly at him and waves, “Bye, Harry!”

Louis can feel his heart grow a thousand times.

❤

 

“That was _definitely_ the best Thor movie yet,” Louis squeals as they make their way outside the theatre. “Pretty close to the comic books, I tell you.”

Harry shrugs, “Ok, but did you see that shirtless scene? Did you _really_ see it? Did you appreciate it, Louis? It was art.”

“Oh, believe me, I did. I still stand with the fact that Chris Evans is the better shirtless Avenger, though.”

Harry shakes his head, “No, no, Louis. I’m sorry, but you’re wrong.”

“Guess we’ll have to agree to disagree,” Louis shrugs.

Harry hums in agreement. “And that shirtless Chrises are the best.”  

“I can work with that.”

“Where do you wanna go next, Lou? It’s still pretty early,” Harry asks him. _London Eye_ is on the tip of Louis’ tongue, when Harry speaks again, “You know what, the Children’s Festival started last week. Want to check it out?”

Louis wants to go somewhere tall and romantic, like the _London Eye_ , but Harry is looking at him with hopeful green eyes. And honestly, when has Louis ever been able to deny Harry something he really wants? Never, not since they met at eighteen.

“Yeah, sure, where is it?”

“Down at Southbank Center. We only have to walk a couple of blocks.”

They start walking up north, the wind blowing in their faces and ruffling their hair while they grip their coats tighter with one hand and each other with the other. It’s all very picturesque. As they get closer to the festival, they can see clusters of children running along together, laughing and yelling happily around colorful stands and mechanical games.

“This looks fun,” Harry smiles with thinly veiled giddiness. He points to his far right, “And look, there’s a Ferris wheel there. You wanted to go on one, right, Lou?”

Louis simply nods, enjoying the scenery of not only the festival, but also of his smiling boyfriend.

“I can see some cotton candy over there!” he shrieks happily when he spots the food stands, taking off and dragging an amused Harry along.

There’s a chubby man with big eyebrows at the candy stand who tries to hide his laugh as Louis rambles on, trying to decide which flavor he wants with Harry by his side. At the end he declares, “Alright, I want the blueberry _and_ the strawberry one, please.”

When the man gives it to him, he smiles and kindly adds, “Two cotton candies for the mister and his boyfriend.”

Louis blushes a light pink, embarrassed, but Harry startles him and the candy man with a loud cackle.

“Thank you, sir, but both of those are for Louis, the glutton. I’m having a churro.”

They walk aimlessly around, watching the small kids while buying every single sugarcoated food they find in their path. Both of them have an appalling sweet-tooth that even the children at the festival would flinch at, thinks Louis. It must be horrible for their health, but it still tastes good.

They finally stop in front of a stand with no queue.

“Ok, I bet I can win you one of those teddy bears.” Louis says as they approach the owner.

“You never win me anything,” Harry remarks with a roll of eyes. “Just accept the fact that carnival games are not your thing, babe.”

Louis looks affronted, “ _Excuse me_ , Styles? I’ll have you know I’m Doncaster’s reigning ring toss champion.”

“Oh, Doncaster. Poor little Doncaster.”

“Here, I’ll show you, you tit.” Louis quips, paying the lady in charge the money for five rings.

Harry gives him a thoroughly unimpressed glance, but the corners of his mouth lift lightly.

Louis fails the first three times, frowning when Harry starts laughing in stitches. Desperate times call for desperate measures. Louis sits atop the counter, knees bent underneath him and arms as stretched out as he can.

Harry squawks, “Hey, that’s cheating!” But before he can do anything, Louis sticks out his tongue at his boyfriend’s direction and throws the fourth ring. He fails. _Again_.

Harry claps his hands like a seal, head thrown to the sky, laughing at Louis.

“Sod off.” Louis counters, and he throws the last ring directly to Harry’s stomach. It takes a fraction of a second before Harry covers himself in a flinch. The ring bounces off his hands and onto the stand, right where the glass bottles are—it falls perfectly around one of the middle bottles.

Both boys stare at the ring.

Louis quirks an eyebrow, “See?” he counters before sauntering off to collect his prize.

“Wait a minute,” Harry splutters, catching up to him. “ _I_ did it!”

“Nope,” Louis shakes his head. “It was a calculated throw. Geometry and all that.”

“Whatever, Lou _eh_.”

Louis ends up picking a giant, light brown teddy bear with a big black nose and a green bow around its neck. He walks up to Harry. “Here, my sweet Hazza. Just as I promised.”

Harry looks on amused, but eventually grabs the teddy bear and smirks. “Why, thank you. I’ve always wanted a child with you, Louis.”

Louis giggles at the thought and wraps his shorter arms around Harry, “What are we gonna name him?”

Harry ponders as he squeezes Louis back, laughing into his hair, “I was thinking maybe Larry.”

“ _Larry_? What an awful name for a teddy bear, Haz.”

“It’s our names combined,” Harry preens. “Louis and Harry, _Larry_. I’m such a genius, to be honest.”

Louis groans with a fond smile, leading Harry away to see the rest of the place. “I don’t know how to feel about this.”

“Embrace it. No need to fight the status quo of life.”

“How is that—you know what, whatever Harry. I’ve just accepted the fact you’re a special snowflake.”

“ _Whose_ special snowflake, though?”

“Your mum’s.” Louis counters, of course he does.

After they look around the game stands some more, they decide to go on the Ferris wheel per Harry’s request. It’s no London Eye. Hell, it's no _Empire State Building_ , but Louis supposes it's tall and romantic enough, especially with all the pink and orange hues cast off of the setting sun and into the chilly atmosphere.

It takes about ten minutes in the queue before it’s their turn to get on. All three of them; Harry, Louis and little Larry.

They board and Harry is all bright smiles and flushed cheeks while Louis, not for the first time, realizes he’s in madly in love with him. It’s something he realizes every day, and every single time, it takes his breath away how one person can feel this much towards someone else, how he would do _anything_ for Harry Styles.

The wheel starts making its slow way upwards. “Are you sure you’re not gonna fall over?” he asks Harry instead of voicing everything that’s going through his head. “You’re quite clumsy.”

“Well, if something happens, just hold on tightly and don’t let me go.” Harry retorts.

Louis is pretty sure that’s a metaphor.

“Forever and ever.”

Harry smiles, dimples as big as they can get, and cuddles closer to Louis, resting his head on the other boy’s shoulder.

Louis’ heart beats faster, he can feel it, and he hopes to whoever’s out there that Harry doesn’t. This is his chance to finally say everything that has been bothering him since yesterday after Zayn’s talk, everything that hadn’t let him fall asleep until the late hours of the night.

“I was talking to Zayn yesterday night.” He starts, fidgeting his legs, rocking their small passenger car.

Harry quirks his lip, “Oh, yeah? How’d it go? You know, with me not being there to make you dinner.”

“Fine.” Louis remarks offhandedly with a wave, “Well, if you count ordering Chinese as fine, then yeah.”

Harry hums with a laugh, arms still wrapped around Louis, “Yeah, I figured.”

“Anyway, you know what he told me?” Harry nudges his face on Louis shoulder in response. “Perrie said he wanted to move in with him and get married after graduation.”

“What?” Harry guffaws. “Wow, I wish I could’ve been there to see his face!”

“That’s what I said!” Louis exclaims.

“So he _was_ freaking out?”

Louis nods, “Told me he wanted to wait a bit.” He can feel his ears, neck and cheeks start to flush. He feels hot; they’re at the very top of the wheel. This is the moment.

“But, Haz, in all honestly, I don’t think we—”

“Louis.” Harry says with wide eyes and strained voice. Louis is sure Harry has figured out what he’s trying to say, but then—

“Stop rocking the car, Louis.”

Louis scrunches his eyebrows in confusion, then realizes he’s been steadily rocking their car harder and harder with each passing moment. Nervousness, he supposes. He looks back at Harry, and honestly, his face is comical.

“It’s not gonna fall.” Louis muses, laugh barely contained.

“We can _die_. I saw a documentary about games gone wrong. Louis, stop.”

Louis starts laughing as he rocks their car, tiny squeaking noises coming from the old and rusty metal.

“Oh, my god, Louis no!” Harry hides in Louis’ chest, grabbing on tightly. “We’re going to fucking die and it’ll be your fault, you ass!”

By now, Louis is red from laughing, even his stomach hurts. He fails to realize that the wheel is making its way down until it is one turn away from their car.

He missed his chance, but looking at the now laughing Harry, he can’t help but not care. He’s got all week after all.

❤

**_four days until valentine’s day_ **

 

“You were trying to _propose_ to him?” Liam exclaims. In a fraction of a second, his surprised expression soon gives way to a giddy smile.

“Liam!” Louis shushes him up with a panic expression, he looks around their library table for any eavesdroppers nearby. When he sees there are none, he turns back to his friend. “It’s a secret, you idiot.”

“Alright, alright,” Liam whispers back, still too loud for Louis’ comfort, but the latter boy refrains from rolling his eyes. “Why didn’t you tell me before?”

Louis continues ruffling through his highlighted notes as he answers, “I did it on a whim, Liam. But like I said, it didn’t work out.”

“Why don’t you just do it on Valentine’s day?” Liam questions, his own textbook already forgotten. “It’ll be way more romantic. I thought you two liked that stuff.”

“It’s _predictable._ I swear, Harry’s been waiting for a Valentine’s wedding proposal since he was born.”

“Then do it. Lou, don’t be an idiot.”

“ _No._ I genuinely want it to be a surprise, he’s not gonna know what hit him.”

Liam sighs and laments to himself the day he befriended two idiots in love.

“Anyway, the point is, Liam, that I need an ingenious and romantic idea and I can’t find Zayn. And Niall’s shit at this, you know that!” Louis adds, finally closing his book in an exasperated slam.

Liam looks offended, “Wait, I’m your _second_ option? After Zayn?” They gather their books and go to the check out. “I’m plenty romantic, romantic _er_ than Zayn, at least.”

Louis hands the librarian their books before turning to face Liam, “Is that even a word? _Romanticer_?”

Liam shrugs, “I think so.” Louis shrugs with him.

Somewhere on  campus, Zayn, English major, shudders.

“Anyway, the only person less romantic than you is Niall. And that’s going to extremes, mate.”

Liam splutters, “That’s terrible. I’m not _that_ hopeless.”

Louis gives him a look, “In first year you gave Danielle a _donut_ for your anniversary. Pretty sure that’s the reason she broke up with you.”

“It had sprinkles and sugar hearts!” Liam explains, desperate. Danielle didn’t break up with him because of _that_ (she did).

They walk out of the library, both in thought.

“You should do something everyone sees, that’s romantic, isn’t it?” Liam finally says, with a questioning smile.

Louis ponders for a moment, “Well, that’s actually a good idea, Liam. Danielle surely missed out on something,” he jokes. Liam can only roll his eyes.

“You can do, like, a giant sign that says ‘Harry marry me’ or something?”

Louis starts nodding, already imagining the scene: Harry running to hug him while everyone around them starts clapping, awed at their love. Then Harry, in happy tears, will say yes, as they embrace. _Pretty cool_.

Louis’ eyes widen the moment he realizes, “Oh, my god, Liam. _Liam_.”

Liam turns around, alarmed, “What’s wrong?”

“We can do it just like in the scene!” he squeals. Seeing Liam’s confused expression, he continues, “In Love, Actually, you know,the _cue cards scene_ , with Keira Knightley and that other guy, the one that’s in love with her.”

“But they don’t end up together, do they?” Liam slowly replies, still confused.

Louis dismisses him with a flick of the wrist, “That’s not the point! Harry’s gonna love it so much.”

He grins in success and Liam smiles down at his friend, “Alright. If you want, I can help you make them after the next class.”

Louis wraps his arms tightly around Liam’s bigger frame before adding, “Zayn’s free too, he can help out and then we’ll go to Harry’s last class. And then we’ll get married. Like, right after his class ends.”

Liam looks on fondly at his ridiculous friend, “Sounds like a plan.”

❤

“I gotta admit, Louis, this is a good idea.” Zayn says as he sprawls himself on the semi wet grass under a tree sheltering them from the sunrays. Liam and Louis follow him suit, each with a couple of giant cue cards and a permanent marker.

“It was all Liam’s idea, he deserves the merit.” Louis mentions, patting his friend on the head.

“It was.” Liam preens proudly under the attention. “Because I’m a romantic.”

Zayn raises a questioning eyebrow, “Didn’t you give Danielle a donut for your—”

“Yes, and she loved it, _thankyouverymuch_.” Liam sniffs, dignified.

“Wasn’t aware donuts were romantic, is all.” Zayn shrugs with a smirk.

“If you’re done flirting with each other, can we please start with my proposal of epic proportions now?” Louis interrupts, placing his cue cards on the grass.

The three of them lay on the grass, pensive. It looks a little odd for any passersby, three grown men sprawled on the grass in a circle, hands under their chins.

“I, for one, think you should go straight to the point; _Marry me, Harry_.” Liam finally says, breaking their silence.

“So much for being a romantic,” Zayn rolls his eyes and turns to Louis, ignoring Liam’s glare. “I say that you should write a poem. You can’t go wrong with a poem.”

Louis groans. His best friends are idiots.

He turns to Liam, “No, Liam this needs to be romantic.” He turns to Zayn, “And no, Zayn, I’m not gonna put a bloody poem in there. It needs to be personal and concise and romantic.”

“You’re thinking way too much about it.”

“Well, yeah Liam, it’s a _marriage proposal_.”

Liam raises his hands in mock surrender, “Alright, well, just put in how you feel when you look at him, and when you are with him, and all the things you want to do with him and, you know, that stuff you always talk about…”

The other two boys stare at him in contemplating silence.

“Huh. He _is_ romantic, apparently.” Zayn says.

“You should think about making a career out of this, Li.” Louis uncaps a pen and starts scribbling on a notebook.

It really shouldn’t be hard. He just needs to put what Liam said into words. And, well, Louis knows he’s a romantic. Harry is one too, and they’ve never had problems cooing disgusting prose at each other. It’s what they bloody do. He thinks, and in minutes he’s got what he wants to say on eight cue cards.

“Alright, lads, tell me what you think.” He finishes with satisfied sigh and passes the notebook to Zayn and Liam, who bundle together in curiosity.

Zayn whistles with approval, “Nice. Harry will eat this up.”

Louis punches him on the arm, taking his notebook back, “Shut up and help me write this on the cue cards. They have to be nice and pretty.”

“If you proposed to me right now with those, I’d say yes.” Liam shrugs, grabbing a marker and getting to work.

Louis hopes Harry will think the same.

❤

Louis looks from Zayn to Liam, eyeing them from top to bottom, “Yeah, it’ll definitely have to be you, Liam.” He turns to Zayn, “Sorry, he’s stronger.”

“You say that as if I actually wanted to lift your fat ass up,” Zayn replies, already taking out a cigarette and leaning on the brick wall.

“Rude.” Louis mutters before facing Liam again, “You sure you can do this?”

Liam nods with a smile, “Sure, you’re not heavy at all. You’re tiny, Lou.”

“Somehow that is _not_ much better than what Zayn said,” because apparently today is Insult Louis Tomlinson Day.

Liam kneels down, putting his hands on the ground. “Just don’t move a lot, and we’ll be fine.”

Louis glances upwards, seeing the window a couple meters up. He takes a deep breath. Oh, the things he does for love. “Ok, ok. Zayn, if I fall, make sure to catch me, please.”

Zayn gives him a distracted thumps up, but Louis doesn’t feel safe. Not when Zayn is playing candy crush or something on his phone when he should be saving Louis' life.

He steps on Liam’s hands, and, to Liam’s credit, he lifts the lith boy easily. Louis fumbles for a bit, has a mini heart attack, and, with trembling hands, grabs onto his cue cards as if his life depended on it.

He peeks at the classroom carefully and instantly recognizes Jane Cooper, Harry’s graying Political Something professor who’s known for viciousness. He’s in the right place then.

“Everything alright up there?” Liam strains out from beneath him.

“Yeah, yeah, ok.” Louis mutters, still too terrified to look down.

With shaky hands he starts to wave to the classroom, making sure everyone but Professor Cooper knows he’s there. When he’s got about thirty curious sets of eyes looking up at him, he lifts the first card.

I’VE WANTED TO DO THIS

His eyes scan for Harry among the rest of the students, but it’s almost impossible when his eyes are glued to the professor. He shows the next card.

EVER SINCE I LAID EYES ON YOU

‘Ok, you can do this, Tomlinson. Andrew Lincoln did it in that movie, you can too,’ he thinks to himself. He starts sweating.

MY SOUL, MY HEART, MY BODY

THEY ALL BELONG TO YOU,

He can see a few girls coo and everyone starts looking around the room, see who the lucky person is.

MY EVERYTHING IS IN LOVE WITH YOU

Professor Cooper must notice all the commotion, but just as she’s turning to look behind her, Louis dodges in a brusque movement and hides beneath the window. The movement makes Liam tumble, who swears under his breath and tries to hold on to Louis with a mighty grip.

“Shit, Tommo, what happened?” Liam whispers when they gain balance once again.

Louis catches his breath, “Nothing, nothing, sorry.”

He raises the next card over his head, too afraid to peek his head. But if Cooper’s going to take him down, he might as well finish what he started.

AND I WILL BE IN LOVE FOREVER UNTIL I BECOME DUST

The next one is _it_ , he raises his head at the same time as he raises the cue card. He’s dying to see Harry’s face.

I LOVE YOU.

WILL YOU MARRY ME?

He’s grinning, face red from excitement (perhaps from exhaustion, but don’t ruin this for him), and scans the room, looking for bright green eyes. For _his_ bright green eyes. And.

They’re not there?

He stays there, silent, desperately scanning the room again.

Harry. Is. Not. There.

At the same time Louis notices a girl with wavy brown hair in the very far corner of the room, abruptly standing up, hands clutching at her chest with wet eyes.

“I will!” Eleanor screams.

“Shit, SHIT!” Louis yells, dropping his cue cards on the floor, “Liam! Liam put me down! Abort mission!”

Alarmed, Liam hastily lowers Louis as fast as he can, almost dropping him in the process.

“What happened?” an equally confused Zayn says.

Louis grabs them both by the wrist and starts running quicker than he’s ever ran in his life.

Zayn and Liam run beside him, still confused.

“I proposed to Eleanor!” he screams, horrified. He doesn’t look back.

❤

Harry kneels down beside them, leaving very little space between him and Louis.

“Hey, guys.” He waves.

Liam and Zayn return the wave, but Louis smiles nervously. A drop of sweat threatens to fall from his forehead. “Hey, babe. How was class?”

“Oh, nice, if a bit boring. I’ve never liked the State and Local course.” Harry wrinkles his nose and lays his curls on Louis’ lap.

“So you didn’t have class with Professor Cooper?” Zayn asks, mouth quivering as if trying to stop himself from laughing.

Harry looks at him confused, “No? I’ve only got her class on Monday. Why?”

“N-nothing.” Zayn manages to say. He’s lucky Harry’s between them. If not, Louis would not hesitate on biting him.

“Talking about Cooper’s class,” Harry chirps with a smile on his face, “I heard someone proposed to Eleanor during it. Isn’t that sweet?”

Liam coughs, obviously trying to hide his laughter.

“Is that so?” Louis manages to say.

“Mhm,” Harry nods, oblivious to the way his friends are acting. “Some bloke. Really happy for her, though.”

Zayn stares at Louis with a playful smirk, “What a lucky man.”

Louis wants to choke himself.

❤

**_three days until valentine’s day_ **

“Hey, Niall, wait up!” Harry yells a few feet away from Niall, earning a annoyed glances from a couple of girls.

Niall steps forwards to meet his friend and waves, “Hey, Haz.”

Harry smiles back, arms full of books, and walks beside Niall in the narrow university hallway. Niall glances at Harry and shivers at what he’s wearing: some flimsy, transparent shirt with patterned flowers. Niall holds on tighter to his gray hoodie, the cold zipping up his spine in seconds.

“You going to German Lit?” Harry asks, oblivious to Niall’s silent judgment.

Niall shakes his head, “Nah, mate, I’m gonna skip it today. Have to meet up with Ed and Lou to work on the Theatre project.”

“Oh, yeah, Louis mentioned it yesterday,” Harry bites his lip, looking nervous. “Hey, um, Niall. Has Louis talked to you about anything?”

Niall munches on an apple with confused expression, “Not really, why?” he cautiously tells him after a short pause. His expression is slightly worried, making Harry worry in turn.

Harry shrugs nonchalantly, “He’s been acting weird this week. Probably nothing, but, you know me.”

Niall gives him a few pats on the back with a reassuring smile, “I’ll ask him. Don’t you worry, Harry Styles.”

Harry gives him a thumbs up and a noncommittal grunt.

“Anyway, good luck in that awful class. I’ll see you later, yes?” Niall asks when their path starts to diverge. “And for god’s sake put on a fucking jacket, will ya?”

Harry laughs with a roll of eyes, but nods. “Ok, mother. See you later, Ni.”

Never one to enjoy the cold, Niall briskly makes his way to the nearby on-campus café they agreed to meet in. He thinks back to what Harry had just told him and tries not to laugh. He knows _exactly_ what Louis is up to. Zayn had even made sure Niall was up to date with Louis’ failed attempts at marriage proposal. For someone who prides themselves as being the romantic of their group, Niall thinks, Louis is awfully bad at asking the boy he’s love with to marry him.

He’s chuckling to himself as he walks into the café, welcoming the warm air on his face to no end. He looks around the room--small tables filled with studying students and some others with chattering ones--until he spots a head full of ginger hair and a small boy laughing loudly on a booth on the far right.

“Lads!” he booms out with a knowing grin, “How are you this fine evening?”

Louis interrupts him, finger in the air, “Shut up, Niall. Just shut up and wipe that shit eating grin off your face.”

Niall cackles out a laugh, flushing red, as he takes a seat next to Ed.

“What are you on about?” Ed asks, confused, an old guitar on his lap.

Niall opens his mouth, only to be silenced yet again by the boy in front of him with a warning glare. Louis turns to Ed with a sigh.

“I don’t know how to propose to Harry.”

Ed takes a cheese fry from the table, “About time, innit?”

“You look soundly unimpressed," Louis replies with a small pout.

“Don’t be disappointed. Everyone’s been expecting it for years.”

“Everyone,” Louis says. “Everyone, _but_ the cosmos, apparently.”

“Oh! That reminds me, Harry said something to me this morning,” Niall takes a few fries from the table, struggling to fill his mouth with them. He munches on slowly, unaware that Louis is waiting for him to continue.

“Yes, Niall?” Louis says irritably, offering him a gulp of his coffee.

Niall takes it, gladly, and finally finishes. “He thinks you’re acting weird. You should hurry up that proposal.”

Louis groans, carding a hand through his hair. “Fuck’s sake. What if he already knows I want to propose?”

Niall shakes his head, “Nah, I don’t think so. He seemed upset. He probably thinks you’re gonna break up with him or something.”

Louis squeaks, paranoid.

“Wow, _not helping_ Niall.” Ed mutters.

“Don’t worry, just propose today, that’s all.” Niall shrugs. “You make things more difficult than they need to be.”

“I have no idea what to do now. I suck at this. I should give the crown of most romanticer to you, Niall.”

“Romanticer isn’t a word.” Ed replies.

“Yeah, it is,” Louis says, offended. “Right, Niall?”

Niall doesn’t know, but replies confidently, “Of course.”

Ed’s about to call them out on being university students with no basic knowledge of English, when he gets a sudden idea. “A song.”

“Hm?” Louis looks up from his self-wallowing and mild panic. “What song?”

“No,” Ed shakes his head. “You should write him a song.”

Niall smiles brightly, clapping. “A song for Harry! We could help you write it!”

Louis ponders for a few seconds, the cables in his head working. “Yeah,” he starts nodding. “Harry would love that.”

“We could write it,” Ed continues, “and also use it for Theatre. Two birds with one stone, right?”

Louis grins, starting to warm up to the idea. “Yeah... Yeah, this is awesome.”

“Settled then!” Niall shouts, taking a notebook from his backpack without preamble. “Let’s start, we’ve already wasted enough time as it is.”

Ed hoists up his guitar, strumming a few chords. Louis can feel the knots from his insides untwist, an excited buzz coursing through his veins.

“Now, Louis. Tell us everything about you and Harry.”

❤

Louis’ never been a fan of his own voice, not when his idiot of a boyfriend sings like an angel. A sex angel or whatever. But Harry has said countless times, whenever they finish one of their impromptu sing-a-longs, that Louis’ voice is lovely. So that must count as something. And it only really matters if Harry likes it, right? It’s his song after all, and it’s Harry Styles. He’s going to like anything Louis does for him. Even if it’s a cheesy song he wrote in an hour and a half while eating cheesy fries.

At least that’s what Louis tells himself. He’s still a nervous bomb ready to explode at any second. This is even worse than yesterday’s cue cards.

“You can do this Louis.” He says under his breath, closing his eyes and trying to relax. “Heath Ledger did in 10 Things I Hate About You. You can be just as cute as Heath Ledger. You are Heath Ledger.”

There’s a hearty laugh next to him. Louis turns around, broken out of his reverie. “What?”

“Just chill, mate; it’s gonna be fine. The song’s really good and he’s gonna like it.” Ed tries to reassure him, but it works little to nothing on Louis. Harry’s going to hate the song, he’s going to dump Louis and—

“It’s the right place!” yells Niall as he runs from a tall brown building.

“Are you absolutely sure, Niall? I don’t want to propose to Eleanor Calder again.” Louis grimaces as Niall arrives, running out of breath.

“Positive. I saw him with me own eyes, Lou. Class is already ending.”

“Ok, ok,” Louis pats his shirt, trying to smooth out the wrinkles. They’re standing on the middle of the courtyard just outside one of the uni’s biggest building, the one Harry is currently in. As soon as Harry comes out, Niall and Ed will start playing and Louis will sing. Perfect plan, at least that’s what Ed and Niall had told him.

Niall puts down his guitar case on the floor, “This is going to be so good, Louis. I can feel it.”

Louis wants to answer, but out of the corner of his eye, he can see a small crowd coming out of the building. He catches sight of Harry’s curls and starts waving. Harry, who had been talking to a girl, turns around and sees him. He waves back, grin bright.

Niall and Ed start strumming away, just as Harry makes his way to them, confused expression etched on his face.

“ _I’ve got a heart, and I’ve got a soul_ ,” Louis starts crooning. “ _Believe me I will use them both_.”

A few people sitting nearby turn around, making Louis even more self-conscious. There are more people coming out of other their classes as well, something they hadn’t taken into account. Louis can hear his own voice, alien to his ears, and very loud. For a moment though, his mind is only on the lyrics, a reminder of everything he and Harry had been through. Since they were mere eighteen year olds who fell hard for each other, not knowing how big it would become. How in five years Louis would be proposing to Harry right in the school they met at.

“ _I have loved you since we were eighteen, long before we both thought the same thing_.”

“ _To be loved and to be in love. And all I can do is say that these arms were made for holding you.”_

Clank!

Louis opens his eyes at the startling noise. _It’s a coin_.

Someone threw a coin at Niall’s guitar case. Louis meets Niall’s eyes, both confused. Then there’s another, and another one. Someone throws a bill.

Suddenly they have a thick crowd around them, everyone watching the small spectacle. Louis cranes his neck trying to find Harry, but his boyfriend is lost in the crowd. _Fuck_ Louis thinks, eyesight never ceasing to look for Harry.

Louis, begins to panic, turning to his friends who look like they’re basking on all the attention, dancing for the crowd. Louis wants to groan, but all he can do now is continue singing.

“ _I wanna love like you made me feel, when we were eighteen_.”

He finishes the song, Niall and Ed singing with him the last chorus. He’s not going to lie and say he doesn’t feel pride swell up inside him as he sees everyone clapping and leaving more money on the case. He wonders how much money they made.

As soon as Louis remembers who they actually did the song for, he feels a warm hand on his shoulder and then someone covering his eyes from behind.

“Guess who?” a deep, familiar voice sings.

Louis makes a show of feeling the other boy’s hands, “Well, surely a girl. These hands are too moisturized to be a boy’s.”

“Oh, shut it.” Harry laughs and turns Louis around, beaming proudly. “What was that all about? You guys gained quite a crowd, could barely hear you.”

Louis tries to suppress a sigh, “Uh, a song we wrote. You didn’t hear it?”

Harry shakes his head, “Just the beginning, then everyone came in and I almost tripped. A song for what babe?”

“Uh, theatre. For the play.” Louis stutters out, suddenly too embarrassed to tell the truth.

“Hey, Harry, what’d you think of the song? Romantic, eh?” Niall surges forwards, face red probably from all the girls’ attention. “Said yes already, cause I swear—”

Louis cuts him off. “Yeah, yeah Niall, I just told him it’s for the play.” Louis resists the urge to step on Niall’s foot. “The song. For the play.”

Niall looks from Harry to Louis several times. He finally turns to Louis before saying, “Al-right. We’ll talk later, Tommo.” He walks away in a swish, not before muttering a _fucking idiots_.

❤

“Oh no, here it comes, Harry.”

“This is going to be horrible. Just like the past fifty times.” Harry covers his eyes as if he were watching a horror movie.

On the screen in front of them, a pretty blonde stands up in front of her class.

“Shit.” Louis mutters under his breath, burying his face on Harry’s shoulder.

“ _I hate the way you talk to me and the way you cut your hair_ ,” the girl starts. “ _I hate the way you drive my car. I hate it when you stare_.”

“One of these days this will stop hurting.” Harry says, eating a mouthful of popcorn.

“Today is not that day, Curly.”

“ _I hate it when you lie, I hate it when you make me laugh, even worse when you make me cry_.”

“Wait for it…”

“ _But mostly I hate the way I don’t hate you_.”

“Not even close, not even a little, not even at all.” Both boys whisper in unison with the on screen girl.

The girl runs away from their class, a young Heath Ledger on screen and sad. Harry sighs and Louis sniffs.

“I hate movies like these.”

“No you don’t. You love the pain.” Harry tells him. Louis shrugs; it’s true.

“I do.” He sighs once again, slumping on the taller boy as the movie continues.

After a beat of silence, Harry speaks, “Lou?”

“Yeah, baby?”

“I just—are we fine?”

Louis stands up in a heartbeat, eyes wide open, “Fine? Of course!”

Harry gives him a bashful smile, “Sorry, I just thought—”

“It’s ok, Harry,” Louis hugs him, nose inhaling Harry’s fruity scent. “Just a lot of stuff on my mind, but _we_ are fine. More than fine, really. I love you.”

Harry hugs him back tightly, “Ok, good. Love you too, Lou.”

Louis doesn’t want to let go.

❤

**_two days until Valentine’s day_ **

By Wednesday morning Louis has resigned to the fact that a public marriage proposal is not going to happen.

He lays on his bed, shirtless and tired after a good morning wank. Honestly, he isn’t a horny teenager anymore; he has a boyfriend. Harry needs to move in with him, _now_. Louis groans at that train of thought; living together, marriage, children. Fuck. Wonderful thoughts that are too horrible for his still addled-with-sleep brain. He whines into his pillow one more time before standing up, wincing at the cold touch of the floor tiles.

He walks to his and Zayn’s tiny kitchen, scratching his belly and yawning loudly. To his surprise, the welcome smell of bacon and garlic fills his nostrils in an instant. It’s not Harry, at least he doesn’t think so, Louis doesn’t remember Harry spending the night. Unless Zayn has magically learned how to cook, that can only mean one thing.

“Pezza!” Louis cheers, gleeful, walking towards the pretty blonde to hug her from behind.

Perrie gives him a big smile as she moves to stir the fried breakfast, “Hey, love. Haven’t seen you in a while.”

Louis nods, enjoying the smell of pork and sitting on the counter, feet dangling. “Too much for my liking. Is that for me? I bet it is.”

“It’s obviously for you,” Perrie rolls her eyes, “At least you wake up early. God knows Zayn sleeps like a rock.”

She serves him up a plate of eggs with bacon and toast with garlic. Thank Jesus for Perrie Edwards. “How you’ve been? You spend the night? Didn’t see you yesterday,” he says after swallowing a mouthful of bacon.

“Yeah. Got here ‘bout the time Harry left. I think you were already asleep.”

“Huh, must’ve fallen asleep on him.” Louis replies, still eating.

Perrie giggles, “You are too cute. You and Harry, I mean. Zayn told me about, you know, the proposals.” She sits in front of him, orange juice in hand.

“Does _everyone_ know?” Louis sighs, “I must be the laughing stock of our friends.”

The girl vehemently shakes her head, “Not at all, Louis. I think everything you’re doing is pretty romantic.”

“Yeah, well. I don’t know how this is going to go, but I’ll try.”

“Just do something classic romantic. That can’t fail, right?” Perrie shrugs. “You should tell all of this to Harry after you propose for real. I’m sure he’ll love it.”

“Trust me, he’ll never let me live it down. He seems like a sweet boy, but he’s evil.”

“Oh, I know. Horrible little boy.” Perrie says, sarcasm dripping from her mouth.

“Who’s a horrible little boy?” Zayn walks in, his morning voice deeper than usual and hair artfully messed as if he didn’t suffer from bedhead the way mere mortals like Louis did. Of course.

Louis thinks he should feel intimidated, what with being half-naked in front of two unfairly attractive people (who happen to be fucking each other, mind you), but one look at Zayn in a Joker t-shirt two sizes too big for him and a reminder of Perrie’s hyena laugh makes him feel better. He loves his friends a lot.

“You, Zayn, _you’re_ horrible.” Louis replies, sipping his cuppa. “We were talking about how to finally murder you, steal your money and elope together to the Alps or somewhere we could raise a family of little Perries and Louises.”

Perrie laughs (her wonderful, wonderful hyena laugh, Louis notes fondly) and Zayn replies, deadpan, “That sounds awfully cute, to be honest.”

Louis shrugs, standing up. “Alright, I’m off to get me some clothes on. You going to school?”

They both nod in response.

“Alright, we’ll leave together then.” He leaves to his room in a swift motion, leaving Perrie and Zayn alone in the kitchen.

“The Alps?” Zayn asks in confusion.

❤

 _Classic Romantic. That won’t fail._ Perrie’s words echo through Louis’ mind like a mantra as he walks towards his boyfriend. Harry’s sitting with Jade and Liam doing what seems to be class work.

He arrives at their table, “Hey, Haz. Hey, Jade. Payne.”

Harry looks up with a smile, “Hey, babe.” His eyebrows twist in confusion, “Don’t you have, like, class right now?”

Louis nods furiously, dropping a sweat, “No, yeah, yeah. I just, um, are you free this afternoon? Thought you might want to go out tonight, maybe eat dinner.” Really, what could possibly beat a candle lit dinner at a fancy restaurant. Nothing.

Harry brightens up, biting his lip. “Sure! That’s weird though, we never go out mid-week.”

“Geez, Harry,” Liam startles Louis and Harry with a loud, staccato voice. “Can’t Louis take you out with no reason whatsoever?”

Louis is torn between patting Liam on the head or slapping him.

Harry looks almost comically scared, “No, it’s fine. Can I meet you at your flat? I need to stay a little bit longer today and meet with Tom.”

“Yeah, around five?”

Harry nods and Louis leans in to give him a peck on the lips before sauntering off to his class. He swears he can _feel_ Jade contain her squeal.

Liam’s voice can be heard from a mile away. “Wow, Harry. Louis is such a good boyfriend. He’s a keeper, that one.”

Either Liam gets better at acting or Louis gets new friends.

❤

Zayn takes one last drag of his cigarette before stomping on it, Louis following him suit.

“Smoking gives you lung cancer, you’re a bad influence on me Zayn Malik.”

Zayn blows the last of his smoke onto Louis’ face. “You were already into fags long before I met you.”

Louis coughs before stuttering, “That could’ve gone somewhere else.”

Zayn grins and puts an arm around him, “Nah. C’mon, let’s get home, I’m knackered.”

Louis zips up his jacket before they walk to Zayn’s car, a battered old thing that Louis loves to drive. The ride back home is comfortable silence, something Louis loves about Zayn, only Drake’s voice filling the car.

When Louis gets home, the first thing he does is take a shower. He scrubs and scrubs till his skin gets pink and clean, he doesn’t even realize he’s singing—almost screaming— Bruno Mars’ Marry You. Of course. Zayn bangs on the door, kindly telling him to shut the fuck up and hurry up. Louis, for once, doesn’t protest.

He tries to pick the nicest outfit, something elegant that will make his body look good. Louis realizes with amusement that this is the first time in the past few years that he has been nervous about what to wear for a _date with Harry_. At the end he settles for black, slick trousers and a gray collared dress shirt. _I really clean up nicely_ , he thinks with a grin as he looks at his reflection, combing through his wet hair.

“Zayn!” he yells from his room. Today will be the day he asks Zayn Malik to help him do his hair. Let the gods help him.

Zayn peeks a head through the door, eyebrow raised in question.

“Help me?” Louis tries to look cute and adorable and everything nice in the world.

With a roll of eyes Zayn walks in, taking the comb from Louis’ hand, “Hopeless.” He mutters under his breath.

“You’re way too nervous about this.”

“Wouldn’t you be though?” Louis replies.

“I guess,” his friend says as he tries to fix Louis’ hair to a decent height. “But you have to control yourself or you’ll fuck something up. It’s just Harry, anyways. He loves you.”

Louis sighs. He knows it’s true, but that doesn’t stop the fact there has been Harry’s horrified face while saying no in the back of Louis’ mind. It’s just something he doesn’t want to think about.

Zayn breaks him out of his reverie, “Done.” He gives him a look up and down with a hum, “You look good. Harry will get a boner in no time.”

Louis laughs and hushes Zayn out of the room to finish the last touches of his look. Soon enough, their doorbell rings, and he can hear Zayn greet Harry in.

Louis’ about to head to the living room, ready to leave, when Zayn barges in his room once again.

“Ok, so, I don’t want to freak you out or anything,” Zayn starts, scratching the back of his head, “But, um, Harry’s here and he’s wearing a hoodie and dirty converse.”

Louis scrunches his face, confused, “What? Why?”

“Did you tell him you were going somewhere fancy?”

Louis stutters for a moment, “Yes. No…I told him we were going out to have dinner.”

Zayn looks comically exasperated, “Ok, well he’s brought someone with him, too. So you better change into something less extravagant before you make a fool out of yourself.”

Zayn leaves in a whim leaving Louis even more confused, _He brought someone else?_ What the fuck?

He takes off the shirt in a matter of seconds and almost falls over as he takes off his trousers, he puts on the first thing in his closet: a turquoise hoodie and some washed up jeans.

“ _Someone else_?” He probably looks like a maniac.

Louis doesn’t even realize he’s got no shoes on as he stumps to the living room.

And there’s Harry, and.

And Lux Atkin.

He looks on surprised as little Lux walks (with small penguin steps) around the living room. Zayn is looking fondly while Harry is smiling and taking a picture of her.

“Hey.”

He startles Harry, but the other boy quickly gives him a giant grin. “Hey there, Mister. You look really good.”

Louis looks down again at what he’s wearing. The horror; he tries not to wince. The thing is, Harry is not being sarcastic. Fuck him. Fuck him for being so, so good.

“Uncle Louis!” Lux squeals and runs to hug his legs. Louis lifts her up and twirls her around, making the little girl squeal in delight.

“Sorry for not calling earlier, but Tom asked me if I could look after her this afternoon. I really couldn’t say no, and I know you love her, and she is so—”

“It’s cool, Haz, I don’t mind.” It’s the truth, though. He doesn’t mind Lux. He can work something out. “We can go to the park couple block’s down.”

Harry gives him a giant smile and a peck on the lips as he walks over, Lux between them.

“Nooo, don’t kiss.” Lux giggles and makes Louis laugh too, breaking the small kiss.

They end up in the small park near Louis’ flat. Lux instantly runs off to the playground and Harry chases after her with panicked expression on his face, making Louis howl in laughter at the scene.

It’s not the romantic dinner he imagined. It’s better.

❤

**_one day until valentine’s day_ **

“You and Harry are absolutely fucking hopeless.” Nick says after Louis tells him of his multiple failed attempts at proposing to Harry. Aiden almost spills his hot coffee from laughing too much.

Louis glares at them and sniffs. “Don’t laugh assholes! This is a serious matter. The future of my relationship is in your hands.”

“I wouldn’t say that’s wise, but who am I to refuse?” Aiden replies mischievously.

“I know both of you are in a perpetual state of being single, but you must have some sort of proposal idea?”

Nick waves his hand dismissively as the three of them walk slowly around campus, hot coffee in their hands and wind chilling their faces.

“You complicate yourself too much. All you have to do is have sex.”

Louis turns around to look at his friend, pretty sure his neck will snap because of the action, “The fuck?” he says, but Aiden is nodding wisely beside him.

“Nothing is more romantic than a good old fuck.”

“The secret, dear Louis, is to ask him while he _orgasms_. That way he won’t say no.”

“Everyone knows it’s the most romantic thing in the world,” Nick almost _duhs_ and Louis is left perplexed.

“Are you fucking with me right now?”

“I’m not! I’ve read a whole article about it on Buzzfeed, I swear.”

“Just do it right and he will say yes. Don’t worry Lou.”

Louis wants to smack his head on a concrete wall, but honestly, at this point, he’s willing to try anything romantic. It’s what Harry deserves.

“C’mon, Tomlinson, you know Harry loves a good sexy time.”

Louis punches Nick’s arm with no hesitation.

They arrive to their class, enjoying the warmth of the room, and all three of them snuggle to their coats and drink their coffee in companionable silence, waiting for the professor to arrive.

The idea sticks to Louis’ brain for a while, and at the end he decides to go for it.

_to: hazza <3_

_hey babe, wanna come over tonight ;)_

The professor arrives and it’s a boring classe, so Louis is not particularly thrilled about it. Instead, he keeps his eyes glued to his phone screen.

Amid the boring lecture, his screen lights up.

_from: hazza <3_

_Does that winky face has anything to do with what we might be doing?_

Louis covers his mouth in an attempt to cover his laughter, but he still earns a few glares from the people sitting around him and a knowing smirk from Aiden.

_to: hazza <3_

_you bet ur skinny ass it does_

He receives one last message before the class is over and snorts gleefully.

_from hazza <3_

_Ok, then ;) ;) ;)_

❤

He buys a bottle of champagne on his way from school (the expensive kind) and calls Zayn to tell him he can fuck off to Liam’s place for the night. Zayn surprisingly agrees with no more than a few grunts over the phone. Louis is secretly grateful for his friends.

When he gets home, the first thing he does is clean his room, for once in his life. He also grabs a few of Zayn’s scented candles and few extra fluffy pillows. He makes sure Harry’s favorite condoms are there along with the lube. _He’s going to make this work_.

When Louis finishes cleaning up (the flat and himself), he realizes he’s still got an hour left before Harry comes over, and that’s when it dawns on himself that maybe he’s being a little over the top. He turns on his TV, but this time, instead of watching another romcom, he decides to give his love-addled brain a rest and puts on Sons of Anarchy. He thinks it would be nice to just be able to spend the rest of his life in a cozy sofa with Harry, watching Sons of Anarchy and fucking. Maybe even get a cat and pet it. That’s what he wants, and if he can get away with it, that’s what he’s going to get.

There’s a loud, frantic knock on the door and Louis furrows his brows before walking up to get it. The first thing he sees is a Harry with blown pupils and red lips. The next thing he _feels_ are lips crashing to his. It takes him a moment to reciprocate the kiss, but he does at the end. It’s Harry Styles after all.

He tries to speak, but only ends like mumbling so Louis finally has to separate himself from Harry, earning a sad mewl from his boyfriend.

“Hey, love, what’s going on?”

Harry shakes his head, “I just want to relax Louis, school’s killing me.”

“Why, everything--” he tries to speak, but before he can finish Harry’s lips are glued to him again. It’s not like he can protest, not when his dick is starting to peek in interest.

Ok, so sue him. They can forego the champagne. It’s alright.

He leads Harry to his bedroom, never once letting go. Harry throws him into his bed (Louis feels just a little turned on) before taking of his own shirt. Wait, _this is supposed to be romantic_.

“I’ll do it, babe,” Louis tries, his heart still beating faster than usual.

Harry chuckles airily, “You’re going to take hours with my skinny jeans. Just get naked.”

Louis obliges quickly, never taking his eyes off Harry’s pale body covered in dark tattoos. He pounces on Harry soon enough, pinning him down and putting a thigh between his legs. Harry moans as Louis starts rutting on him.

“No, Lou. No foreplay, need you now. _Please_.”

Louis’ mind is blank and all he wants to do is everything Harry wants. As long as he says it in that deep, airy voice, he will do everything Harry says.

He nods, brain fuzzy, and grabs the strawberry lube next to the bed. Harry makes eye contact with him, and fuck, what was he supposed to be doing right now?

“Spread your legs, Haz,” he orders. Louis swear he can hear the tiniest of whimpers.

His lube-covered fingers start massaging the pink, tender area. He just wants Harry to feel good.

“Fuck, fuck. _God,_ Tomlinson.”

“Just Louis.”

“Shut up.” Harry groans.

First is one slow finger, but Louis knows Harry can take it. Soon enough, he has three fingers inside. Harry is writhing.

“Are you ready?”

“Just do it, please.”

“Always the polite one.”

He grabs the first condom he sees and puts it on quickly before squirting out a glob of lube.

He takes hold of one of Harry’s legs and puts it on top of his shoulder. Just before going in, he remembers, _hey I'm supposed to be asking my boyfriend to marry me_!

But then he goes inside, and Harry moans, deep. Then, Louis’ sight goes white and it all goes downhill from there. He knows he’s supposed to be saying something, asking something but fuck, Harry is so tight.

“Shit, shit, shit.” Louis cries in pleasure.

_It’s easy Louis, just two words. Marry me. Marry me, marry me._

“You’re so hot, Harry, fuck.”

_Harry would you marry me? Please?_

“Ah, ah, _ah_.”

He can do this, right?

“ _Shit_ ,” he comes and...

That’s it.

He wants to scream in frustration but he wants to kiss Harry. He bends down to kiss him hard on the lips. Harry comes almost instantly, and Louis is torn between feeling like a failure and feeling like he wants this forever.

“Thank you,” Harry whispers with a smile, eyes drooping and tired.

Louis kisses his cheek one last time, before standing up with wobbly legs to get a clean towel. When he gets back, Harry is almost fully asleep, smile on his face. He cleans them up quickly.

“You got new pillows.” Harry says softly, drifting to sleep.

Louis smiles and figures he’ll have to ask Harry on Valentine’s Day after all.

He settles next to Harry, limbs wasted and heart content, and wraps his arms around the bigger boy. “God, Harry. Just marry me already, will ya?” he says to the sleeping boy.

Louis falls asleep unaware of Harry’s hitched breath.

❤

**_...valentine’s day_ **

It’s quite ridiculous that Louis has to spend his Valentine’s Day doing homework. Granted, his friends and boyfriend are there. But still, this is pure and utter bullshit and nothing will change his mind.

He’s trying to cut some _Papel Picado_ for theatre class when Niall loudly approaches him, sitting with a thump.

“ _So,_ Tommo. You finally gonna do it today?”

Louis surreptitiously looks to the corner where Harry is talking amicably with Liam.

“Niall, fucking hell. Lower your voice,” He stresses out quietly.

“Well, are you?”

Louis nods, adjusting his glasses over his nose and getting back to work.

“I’ve got us dinner reserved tonight. Some fancy restaurant. He already knows, though. Hopefully he won’t bring Lux this time.”

Niall laughs and pats him on the back. “It’ll be fine. It was all meant to be for tonight.”

“Hopefully,” Louis sighs. “I’m just a little stressed out. With the you-know-what tonight and then this stupid play. My head hurts.”

Niall stands up, stretching a hand out to Louis, “C’mon let’s get some beer with the lads. Just a little break.”

“I have to finish—”

“Just twenty minutes, Lou. _Twenty_.”

It doesn’t take much convincing before Louis is following his blond friend where Harry, Liam, and Zayn are.

“Hiii,” Harry cheers, patting his lap and motioning for Louis to sit on him. Louis slumps down on him, wrapping both arms on his neck. “What’s wrong, babe?”

“I’m sooo tired. Just kill me, Harry.” LOUIS drawls.

Harry laughs. “You can do it, Lou. You can do anything.”

Before Louis can retort, it’s Zayn that speaks up. “Disgusting. Just get married please.”

Louis wants to choke on his own saliva, after killing Zayn, of course. Zayn, to his credit, looks apologetic.

“Um, I’m gonna get the beer,” Niall coughs nervously.

“Yeah, I’ll go with you,” Zayn replies quickly.

“Me too!” Liam, (King of Subtlety) _of course_ , says.

Harry raises an eyebrow, “Three people to get us some beer?”

Louis feels his neck go red. “Snacks. They probably went to get us some snacks, right?”

Harry hums, hugging Louis tighter and resting his head atop Louis’.

“You guys have been acting weird all week. Something’s up?”

Louis shakes his head, aware that he’s not making eye contact, but fuck it. He’s never been a good liar when it comes to Harry. “Nope.”

“ _Louis_.”

“Just a rough week. Really, Haz.”

“I just need you to talk to me, you know. I love you.”

Louis’ face softens before kissing Harry, “I know, I love you too.” He talks between their kiss.

Harry breaks their kiss and grabs Louis’ smaller hands. “Seriously, Lou. I—you do plan on being together after uni, right?”

Louis opens his eyes in an instant and the serene smile he had falls from his face. “ _What?_ Why are you asking me this _?”_

Harry looks alarmed and drops his hands from the other boy’s face.

“I—” he stutters, both boys stunned. “I mean, I’ve been trying to drop hints at you all week, Louis.”

“What are you talking about? Hints about _what_?”

“Babies, families, our future! I thought I was being obvious and you just didn’t want to talk about it…”

Louis tries to go back to the past week. They’re there—Harry’s hints—somewhere in the back of his mind, all jumbled up amongst crazy proposal ideas.

“I didn’t. I didn’t _know_ , Harry.” Because the fucked up combination of Harry’s weird ideas and Louis’ oblivious self have never worked. But them, what they have, was written in the stars. Louis wants to vomit and fly far, far away to some lonely star and live there for the rest of his life with Harry.

“Ok. I guess, what I’m trying to say is-- Fuck,” Harry takes a deep breath. “Louis, will you—”

Louis can almost see the engines of his brain stop and reassemble and he knows what Harry’s going to ask. One part of him wants to say YES, YES, YES.

The other one says _No way, motherfucker. I’m supposed to be asking you_.

In the end, he still is Louis Tomlinson.

“Shit, Harry,” He stands up abruptly. “Don’t do this.”

He can see Harry’s panicked expression, Louis just wants it all to go away.

“You just had to do this right now? Couldn’t you wait a couple more hours?”

“What are you talking about?”

“I love you. I have never loved anyone else so much. I have never cared so much for anyone else. I think I’ve been stupid all week long, wanting my life to be like a formulaic romantic comedy and what not. But you know what? This is better. This is better because this is real life and fucking hell, I found my soul mate.” Louis breathes heavily, just letting it all out. He doesn’t need cheesy cue cards, or some grand gesture in front of everyone. He just needs Harry.

“Louis,” Harry whispers with a smile and bright eyes. “There was no way I would ever say no to you. No way. Like, in any universe I would still love you as much as I love you in this one. Just marry—”

“—marry me?” Louis finishes.

“Yes," They both say in unison and it’s all very ridiculous. Louis doesn’t understand why he was nervous in the first place. He would never say no to Harry and now, thinking about it, he knows Harry would never say no to him. He doesn’t need some majestic place or elegant words to ask Harry what they both know they want.

He can’t help but laugh in glee as he kisses Harry Styles for the first time of the rest of their lives.

From the kitchen door, through a tiny slit, Niall, Liam, and Zayn are watching in awe.

“Told you,” Niall says as he opens up another beer.

Liam adds seriously, “They’re like a modern fairy tale.”

Zayn’s mouth is wide open, as if there was ever a doubt.

“I can’t believe it. They’re a fucking romcom.”

❤

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> movies mentioned in this fic: he's just not that into you, sleepless in seattle, 10 things I hate about you, when harry met sally and love, actually.
> 
> hope you enjoyed it! please leave kudos and comments :) enjoy your day!


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